


Bask

by Cân Cennau - Emyn (cancennau)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Death from Old Age, Deathfic, Gentleness, M/M, Old Married Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 17:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14217789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cancennau/pseuds/C%C3%A2n%20Cennau%20-%20Emyn
Summary: Elim and Kelas share a moment on Kelas' death bed.





	Bask

“I was supposed to be first.”

The bedroom was bathed in the soft glow of the day, filtered through thin linen curtains. Elim sat in his hoverchair by the bed, old and wrinkled, his hair a shock of silver-white. Kelas lay in the bed, their small, frail body a far cry from the stoutness it had been, riddled with arthritis and disease. That was to be expected - Kelas had been dying for months now, the gauntness creeping into their features like an unwanted parasite. Their time was coming soon, they both knew it - Kelas’ lucid, waking moments came few and far between now, they’d sharedtheir  **shri-tal**  with Elim a week or so before, and the crying and grieving had all been unleashed prior, and all that was left was the waiting. Elim was lucky today - the blind eyes crinkled with the ghost of Kelas’ smile, and he could feel the weak pressure of Kelas’ hand squeezing his.

“It was supposed to be me.” Elim told them quietly, smoothing the wrinkled back of Kelas’ dry, dusty hand. “All those assassination attempts, all that I’ve done…”

“I know. But the world doesn’t revolve around what you think should happen.” Kelas’ voice was raspy, but they still managed to huff out a laugh. “I’ve had a good run, and for that I’m grateful. So many memories, of us, of our friends…”

“Mmm.” And Elim knew this, through their nostalgic social memory, every fleeting moment, from Kelas’ first smile to their first kiss, to their god-children and great-god-children far too numerous to count, to the peaceful, happy Cardassia they’d worked so hard to create… He crowded their knuckles against his lips, kissing reverently, as if he could crowd all their shared memories and feelings into his mouth and savour them, like the sweetest scale fruit.

“I love you.” he murmured against their knuckles. “So much.”

“I love you too.” Kelas breathed a deep, satisfied sigh. “Take me outside? I’d like to feel the sun.”

With a click of a few buttons, a nurse was summoned, and Kelas was placed in a hover chair and steered out onto the private balcony. The roses they had planted together now grew wild around the balcony wall, and the Edosian orchids peered down at them from their hanging baskets, and Kelas’ nose hungrily sniffed out all the scents, running them over their  **so'c**  with a smile. Elim settled in beside them, taking their hand again, feeling the warm sunshine on his old scales, but feeling that it was nothing compared to the warmth of Kelas’ and his bond. The sunshine caught on loose scale and straggly bits of Kelas’ hair, and Kelas basked in it, just like they always used to. Elim could not help but be entranced by the sight of Kelas’ sunshine soul, bursting through the gaunt skeleton that held it teetering on the edge of this world, waiting to pass it on to the next. For all his grief, he knew he would never forget the sight.

Kelas fell asleep after a few minutes, without fuss and with a gentle smile, and the nurse steered them back indoors. The world turned, the sun set, the flowers grew, and Kelas Parmak did not wake up again.


End file.
